Hearts of Darkness - Plague of the Void Seeds / 2

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Please click here if you would like to read Post 1, the beginning of the story

Post 2

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Present

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.....The sound of destruction intensifies and moves closer to the glade. The Ziffnindell or Ziff...for that is the name for their race...look down at the humans. They are no longer screaming and writhing. It is difficult to see what is happening to them, but they are undergoing some kind of transformation. The genetic enhancer administered by the Ziff works quickly but without training and time to adjust, the humans would have only the slimmest of chances to survive the impending encounter. They begin to flit anxiously around the glade, casting otherworldly shadows in the firelight, their bright protrusions adding to their beautifully ethereal motion. Two more aliens burst into the glade. These are very different from the Ziff. One, a Valhalconin, generally humanoid in shape, eight feet tall with slate grey, stone-like skin and yellow eyes. The other, a Shaddonos, jet black and ten feet tall with four massive arms and blood red eyes.

The humans begin to regain consciousness. Before they have even a moment to gather themselves, a further two massive beings smash their way into the glade. They pause for a moment as if taking in their surroundings, though they have no eyes. Their forms are only roughly humanoid, like walking boulders. They are so black that light seems to be being sucked into them, creating an odd nimbus around their forms. A deep trumpeting resonates between them and they begin to change form whilst the air and ground freezes and cracks around them. One takes the shape of a monstrous bear, the other a giant man. They trumpet again, much louder. The sound causes most of the humans to scream and vomit. Then, all hell breaks loose as the giant beings, Void Seeds, launch their attack....

The Valhalconin shouts a battle-cry and bursts into dark flames, charging forward to engage the bear. The Shaddonos draws a massive blade of white and leaps forward in support. At the same time, the giant man-like Void Seed charges towards the humans who are frozen in shock. One of the Ziff's arms flickers forward and one of it's feather-like appendages appears, as if with the speed of thought, buried in the center of the monster's head. The other, blurs across the glade and up, onto it's shoulders where it begins to attack it's neck with a small white dagger. The being roars in anger. For a moment, it looks as though the Ziff are simply too fast and deadly for the Void Seed, but the weapon in it's head begins to melt away, running down it's black face. The Ziff attacking it's neck begins to slow down noticeably....ice crystals forming all around it. Suddenly, a black tentacle lashes out and snags it from the air. Slowly it constricts around the Ziff and lowers it to the ground. The other Ziff frantically flicks hundreds of the feather-knives which blossom all over the Void Seed, but to no effect. The Void Seed's massive foot comes down on the captured Ziff with deadly finality. It's companion shrieks a buzzing wail of grief and sorrow.

The Valhalconin and Shaddonos are grappling with the bear-like Void Seed in a titanic struggle. The white blade is partially buried in the Void Seed's neck but it remains totally combat effective. Suddenly, the bear forms two new arms which lock around the Shaddonos and hurls him with monumental force into the trees. Without the support of his companion, the Valhalconin is quickly overwhelmed and the bear's jaws lock tightly onto his arm. All movement stops and the Valhalconin's dark flames begin to waver and subside. His mouth forms a silent scream as ice crystals begin to form all over his body as his energy is drained. The bear's jaws snap shut with a deep crunch as the Valhalconin's arm finally gives and shatters. The Void Seed roars triumphantly and swipes a massive paw, sending the Valhalconin flying through the air to crash with sickening force through several trees. Then from out of nowhere, the Shaddonos is beside the bear. He snatches the hilt of the white blade and with a powerful sweep, removes the head of the Void Seed from it's body. It collapses to the ground in a massive heap of solid, black matter. Immediately, the Shaddonos begins hacking at the material until finding something buried within and thrusts the white blade powerfully, down through it.

Having killed one of the attacking Ziff, the man-shaped Void Seed charges into the group of humans. It grabs hold of one of the boys and casts him thirty feet through the air to be pulverised against the trunk of a tree. A terrified girl is instantly squashed beneath it's massive feet. Three others a trapped by an expanding ring of frozen ground that begins to radiate out from the Void Seed. First their feet, then legs, then torsos become a part of the ground....their screams die in their throats. The Ziff is frantically doing everything it can to distract the Void Seed, but has run out of feather knives and is unable to inflict any lasting damage.

One of the human boys sprints away from the group towards the woods. He grabs a thick tree branch, tears it from the trunk of the tree, then launches himself back into the fray. The Shaddonos, having dispatched the other Void Seed has joined the attack but has been caught in the remaining one's two massive arms, dropping the white blade. There are no other humans left alive. The remains of his friends are scattered about the glade. The boy's eyes fill with tears and his heart fills with rage. He screams and charges towards the Void Seed, flinging the branch at it's head, which is attempting to tear chunks out of the Shaddanos. He grasps the hilt of the massive white blade and standing beneath the Void Seed, thrusts upwards, into it's torso. There is a monstrous bellow and the Shaddonos is flung away. The Void Seed topples backwards and the boy goes with it. As the Void Seed falls he continues to thrust with the blade, deeper and deeper, up into it's chest. Everything in the glade goes completely still and silent. The boy looks down at the gaping wound. Within it, pierced by the sword, is the Void Seed's midnight heart. He arches back and roars, proclaiming his victory to the universe, then reaches down, wrenches the heart free and devours it.....